Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the thirteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $112.92.

EMN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Eastman Chemical in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Eastman Chemical from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $110.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $115.00 to $110.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Bank of America upgraded Eastman Chemical from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $115.00 to $109.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $113.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Stephen Glenn Crawford sold 10,504 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total transaction of $1,102,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,287 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,965,135. This trade represents a 18.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Julie A. Mcalindon sold 4,456 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.84, for a total transaction of $471,623.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,403 shares in the company, valued at $466,013.52. The trade was a 50.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 18,021 shares of company stock worth $1,895,948. 1.93% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Eastman Chemical

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. CENTRAL TRUST Co lifted its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 27.6% in the 4th quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 924 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $84,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Eastman Chemical by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,919 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $358,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC boosted its stake in Eastman Chemical by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 3,059 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $279,000 after buying an additional 305 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,638 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $332,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 3,196 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $295,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Eastman Chemical Stock Down 1.1 %

Eastman Chemical stock opened at $92.10 on Friday. Eastman Chemical has a 52 week low of $80.71 and a 52 week high of $114.50. The firm has a market cap of $10.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.44. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $95.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $100.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.14 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $2.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.38 billion. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 15.37%. The business’s revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.47 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Eastman Chemical will post 7.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This is a boost from Eastman Chemical’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.44%.

Eastman Chemical Company Profile

Eastman Chemical Company operates as a specialty materials company in the United States, China, and internationally. The company's Additives & Functional Products segment offers amine derivative-based building blocks, intermediates for surfactants, metam-based soil fumigants, and organic acid-based solutions; specialty coalescent and solvents, paint additives, and specialty polymers; and heat transfer and aviation fluids.